Taken from JRE #1968 w/Jason Everman:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0C9yCa071dZitRjKOylEcx?si=b00b40a6b4484914

How the fuck does 1 go from playing in Nirvana and Soundgarden to being a soldier?

So, I guess being a professional rock musician was something I kind of fell into.

It wasn't something that I had a dream of.

It's like, oh, I'm gonna be, I love playing in bands, I love playing music, but it was like at this punk rock level where you're never gonna make a living at it you know it's just something fun to do And then started playing with Nirvana and even at that level, you know, still not making money from it, but you know, touring.

So Nirvana wasn't worldwide at that point?

Even on the Seattle level, like 1 of the smaller bands.

There was bands like Mudhoney and Soundgarden that were better known than Nirvana was at the time.

And you played for Soundgarden too, which is also hilarious.

And when did you, like, so you're in the beginning.

So did you just have, did you have friction with the band?

So with Nirvana, it was just, I guess initially, like when I came on board, like, Kurt wanted a second guitar player for the live show, basically.

Like, have a heavier sound live, take some of the guitar playing responsibility off him so he could concentrate on vocals, like that kind of thing.

And initially, I thought I was gonna be able to contribute to the band creatively, and then it got to the point where I realized that wasn't gonna happen.

Then the same thing happened with Chad, the drummer, I think.

And it was like everyone in the band, including myself, was like very poor communicators, like a lot of passive aggression.

And you know, I mean, we were kids, you know?

And yeah, I just, I wasn't equipped for it and Became more and more unhappy with the situation and then ended up leaving

So was it that like when you would try to put creative input in it would get shut down or they weren't interested or Kurt wasn't interested?

Yeah so like on the rare time where we actually rehearsed as a band which was not a lot, Kurt would kind of half-heartedly like, hey, who has ideas?

And then Chad, like a very accomplished musician in his own right, would throw some ideas out.

And then it'd just kind of be glossed over and like okay here's the new song I wrote you know and start learning that.

Cursory you know It's like he kind of like threw it out there, but then it wasn't gonna go anywhere.

And so Did you so you went for Nirvana first and then the Soundgarden?

Yeah, like I left we did a US tour like the first full US tour that Nirvana did and 88 or 89 and I can't remember what year it was, but I think it was still the 80s.

And like I left at the end of that tour, like, okay, I'm done, like nice little four-way, foray into rock and roll, but I'm gonna do something else.

When I got home, I was planning on going trekking in the Himalayas.

It's like, okay, this was a nice diversion, but I'm going to kind of fulfill this dream I've had since I was a kid of trekking in the Himalayas.

So I went to Metzger's Maps in Seattle and was buying maps of the Himalaya of Nepal and Tibet and all this stuff and like Getting gear sorted and that's what I was gonna do and then some point that summer or Fall I can't remember what time of year it was into summer Kim from Soundgarden called me and Was like a Hero the their bass player then like quit.

I was like, at that point, Soundgarden was my favorite Seattle band, hands down.

It's complicated, But I think at the end of the day, I wasn't getting along with Chris that well, the singer.

So How does that translate into becoming a soldier?

I mean, there's more to the story than that because there was still, I basically, getting fired from Soundgarden put me in a pretty bad tailspin.

I mean it was a rough patch in my life for sure and so in order to kind of cut this tailspin off.

Like I had to do something radical and what I did was ended up moving to New York.

And so, I mean there's more to the story than that.

But moved to New York, like basically, you know, I grew up in rural western Washington, so it was kind of polar opposite to what my experience was.

Like, got a job in a warehouse, got an apartment, and Kind of started my New York life and did that for a couple of years

What was your plan when you moved to New York?

You just wanted to try it Experience life in the city.

I think the main plan was like like get out of this funk that I was in.

Yeah, like the Soundgarden thing, getting fired from Soundgarden, it broke my heart.

And it wasn't about, you know, I never thought they would get as big as they did.

Honestly, it kind of surprised me when they did, because yeah, they're a great band, but I always thought they were a little too quirky to be huge despite the Chris factor, like this genetically engineered rock star.

But I always thought they were a little too weird to have mainstream success, which was fine with me.

I thought they'd be like a big indie band, like Sonic Youth or Butthole Surfers, like that level.

But it was more like I just loved that band and I loved playing with them.

And having that taken away, yeah, it really, it fucked me up for a bit.

So during this period, 1993, I started, I guess, crafting the next chapter, right?

And I'd always been really intrigued by the military.

My grandfather, both my grandfathers were World War II vets.

So my maternal grandfather was a tank commander in World War II, and he was kind of my introduction to like military stuff.

You know, and I'm a little kid, so I'm intrigued by it.

Like you know, tank commander, that's cool.

Like he, on D-Day, he was an E4 corporal, like gunner on a Sherman tank.

On VE-Day, his unit had made it all the way to Vienna and he was a company commander.

And it was just survival, like attrition.

Like, you know, I'm sure he was a fine soldier, but it was just attrition that he went from corporal to captain in, you know, a year or whatever.

My grandmother's second husband was a corpsman in the Navy.

Like he grew up in this small town on the Columbia River in Washington State.

So his, I think there was like 20 dudes in his graduating class in high school.

So right after graduation, like 201, like every male in his class went to the recruiter and enlisted.

His Navy MOS was like a pharmacist maid or something like that.

So he's like, oh, I'll be on the ship, like working in the dispensary or whatever.

Like he graduates, like they give him a helmet and attach him to a Marine platoon, infantry platoon and like, you're the medic.

And so he did like 7 amphibious assaults in the Pacific.

And then my father's father was in the Coast Guard and he did a lot of coastal patrolling, Oregon coast, Washington coast, Columbia river during the war, just looking for Japanese subs or whatever.

And so you, because you had this sort of wanderlust that made you want to go trek in the Himalayas and you had this family that had this background in the military, you were thinking that this would be something that would be adventurous or intriguing to you?

Yeah, like I've always had a taste for like high adventure, like as a child.

Like before, probably even before I was school, so like Saturday morning cartoons.

So I imagine probably grew up with similar cultural influences.

So I remember in the mornings watching TV shows, like cartoons, like Johnny Quest was the big 1, right?

Speed Racer, Marine Boy, like all this, Speed Racer and Marine Boy were anime, but they were great.

Marine Boy was basically Speed Racer, but underwater.

The writing for Johnny Quest was so good.

And the show in retrospect was kind of progressive.

It was like Johnny had 2 dads, and they had this multiracial composite family.

But the writing was so solid, like super creative.

I think it was only 26 episodes, but each episode is distinct and well-written and just cool, you know?

So I would watch this as a kid and be like, I'm not sure what that is, but I want to do that.

So that was kind of the initial impetus for like, And then growing up in the woods in Western Washington, I was expected, I was kicked outside after breakfast and not expected to be seen again until dinner time.

And so I'd go out and do stupid stuff, like climb high tension power lines to the top, like 5, 6 years old.

And my mother, she definitely facilitated this stuff.

Much to her credit, we'd go camping in the Olympic rainforest on the peninsula and there's like a couple rivers there but 1 of the main ones is the Ho River.

And I had this, as a child, I had this $20 Kmart inflatable raft with the oars.

And my mom would drive me up river, like 10 miles or 15 miles or whatever in our Volkswagen bus and drop me off, me and my $20 Kmart boat in a life vest and she'd be like, all right, see you at the campground.

And so I would be doing this like, you know, white water rafting by myself in my cheesy little boat for several several miles and you know didn't drown obviously but it kind of instilled again this reinforced this sense of adventure you know and I'm sure my mom would go to jail for that today

probably not jail but yeah definitely be discouraged mm-hmm

so the US background to jail for that today, you know?

Probably not jail, but definitely would be discouraged.

So that's background for the high adventure thing, the military thing.

So 1993, I'm like, okay, I need to do something.

I need that punctuated equilibrium, right?

I need a dramatic event in order to promulgate the next period of growth or evolution or whatever.

I guess as soon as I figured out what life authorship was or the concept even though I made may have not have known the term yeah I kind of endeavored to actively author my own life, pursuing the ends of making a life that kept me engaged, kept me interested, and was meaningful to me.

So the military seemed like more and more like a viable option.


Speaker 0: The Joe Rogan Experience

Speaker 1: How the fuck does 1 go from playing in Nirvana and Soundgarden to being a soldier?

Speaker 0: It's it's it's a longer story. I don't know. I

Speaker 1: want to hear

Speaker 0: it How long an answer you want?

Speaker 1: We got plenty of

Speaker 0: time. Okay. So, I guess being a professional rock musician was something I kind of fell into. It wasn't something that I had a dream of. It's like, oh, I'm gonna be, I love playing in bands, I love playing music, but it was like at this punk rock level where you're never gonna make a living at it you know it's just something fun to do And then started playing with Nirvana and even at that level, you know, still not making money from it, but you know, touring.

Speaker 1: Was it the early days of Nirvana?

Speaker 0: Yeah,

Speaker 1: yeah. So Nirvana wasn't worldwide at that point?

Speaker 0: No, no. Even on the Seattle level, like 1 of the smaller bands. There was bands like Mudhoney and Soundgarden that were better known than Nirvana was at the time.

Speaker 1: And you played for Soundgarden too, which is also hilarious. Yeah. And when did you, like, so you're in the beginning. So did you just have, did you have friction with the band? Like, why did you wind up leaving?

Speaker 0: So with Nirvana, it was just, I guess initially, like when I came on board, like, Kurt wanted a second guitar player for the live show, basically. Like, have a heavier sound live, take some of the guitar playing responsibility off him so he could concentrate on vocals, like that kind of thing. And initially, I thought I was gonna be able to contribute to the band creatively, and then it got to the point where I realized that wasn't gonna happen. Then the same thing happened with Chad, the drummer, I think. And it was like everyone in the band, including myself, was like very poor communicators, like a lot of passive aggression.

And you know, I mean, we were kids, you know?

Speaker 1: How old were you at the time?

Speaker 0: 20, I think. And yeah, I just, I wasn't equipped for it and Became more and more unhappy with the situation and then ended up leaving

Speaker 1: So was it that like when you would try to put creative input in it would get shut down or they weren't interested or Kurt wasn't interested?

Speaker 0: Yeah so like on the rare time where we actually rehearsed as a band which was not a lot, Kurt would kind of half-heartedly like, hey, who has ideas? And I'd throw a couple ideas out. And then Chad, like a very accomplished musician in his own right, would throw some ideas out. And then it'd just kind of be glossed over and like okay here's the new song I wrote you know and start learning that. So it was very ego-centric.

Cursory you know It's like he kind of like threw it out there, but then it wasn't gonna go anywhere. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1: And so Did you so you went for Nirvana first and then the Soundgarden?

Speaker 0: Yeah, like I left we did a US tour like the first full US tour that Nirvana did and 88 or 89 and I can't remember what year it was, but I think it was still the 80s. And like I left at the end of that tour, like, okay, I'm done, like nice little four-way, foray into rock and roll, but I'm gonna do something else. When I got home, I was planning on going trekking in the Himalayas. Really? Yeah, that was the next thing.

It's like, okay, this was a nice diversion, but I'm going to kind of fulfill this dream I've had since I was a kid of trekking in the Himalayas. So I went to Metzger's Maps in Seattle and was buying maps of the Himalaya of Nepal and Tibet and all this stuff and like Getting gear sorted and that's what I was gonna do and then some point that summer or Fall I can't remember what time of year it was into summer Kim from Soundgarden called me and Was like a Hero the their bass player then like quit. Do you want to audition for the band? I was like, at that point, Soundgarden was my favorite Seattle band, hands down. And it was like, okay.

Fully not believing I'd ever get chosen.

Speaker 1: And then you did. Yeah. And how did that end?

Speaker 0: I got fired. What happened? It's complicated, But I think at the end of the day, I wasn't getting along with Chris that well, the singer. And obviously, who's going to go? Yeah, it was me.

Speaker 1: Yeah. So How does that translate into becoming a soldier?

Speaker 0: I mean, there's more to the story than that because there was still, I basically, getting fired from Soundgarden put me in a pretty bad tailspin. I mean it was a rough patch in my life for sure and so in order to kind of cut this tailspin off. Like I had to do something radical and what I did was ended up moving to New York. And so, I mean there's more to the story than that. But moved to New York, like basically, you know, I grew up in rural western Washington, so it was kind of polar opposite to what my experience was.

Like, got a job in a warehouse, got an apartment, and Kind of started my New York life and did that for a couple of years

Speaker 1: What was your plan when you moved to New York? You just wanted to try it Experience life in the city.

Speaker 0: I think the main plan was like like get out of this funk that I was in. How old were you

Speaker 1: at the time?

Speaker 0: 21, 22 maybe. So just

Speaker 1: a young guy trying to figure out life.

Speaker 0: Yeah, like the Soundgarden thing, getting fired from Soundgarden, it broke my heart. It was a bad spot for me. And, because I love that band. And it wasn't about, you know, I never thought they would get as big as they did. Honestly, it kind of surprised me when they did, because yeah, they're a great band, but I always thought they were a little too quirky to be huge despite the Chris factor, like this genetically engineered rock star.

But I always thought they were a little too weird to have mainstream success, which was fine with me. I thought they'd be like a big indie band, like Sonic Youth or Butthole Surfers, like that level. But it was more like I just loved that band and I loved playing with them. And having that taken away, yeah, it really, it fucked me up for a bit.

Speaker 1: So what happened?

Speaker 0: So during this period, 1993, I started, I guess, crafting the next chapter, right? For me. And I'd always been really intrigued by the military. My grandfather, both my grandfathers were World War II vets. So my maternal grandfather was a tank commander in World War II, and he was kind of my introduction to like military stuff.

You know, and I'm a little kid, so I'm intrigued by it. Like you know, tank commander, that's cool. Like he, on D-Day, he was an E4 corporal, like gunner on a Sherman tank. On VE-Day, his unit had made it all the way to Vienna and he was a company commander. And it was just survival, like attrition.

Like, you know, I'm sure he was a fine soldier, but it was just attrition that he went from corporal to captain in, you know, a year or whatever. My grandmother's second husband was a corpsman in the Navy. So his story's super funny. Like he grew up in this small town on the Columbia River in Washington State. So his, I think there was like 20 dudes in his graduating class in high school.

And so they graduated June 1942. So right after graduation, like 201, like every male in his class went to the recruiter and enlisted. And so he went in the Navy. His Navy MOS was like a pharmacist maid or something like that. So he's like, oh, I'll be on the ship, like working in the dispensary or whatever.

Like wrong. Like he graduates, like they give him a helmet and attach him to a Marine platoon, infantry platoon and like, you're the medic. And so he did like 7 amphibious assaults in the Pacific. Like, crazy stuff, right? Yeah, like it was super hard.

And he had amazing stories, you know. And then my father's father was in the Coast Guard and he did a lot of coastal patrolling, Oregon coast, Washington coast, Columbia river during the war, just looking for Japanese subs or whatever.

Speaker 1: And so you, because you had this sort of wanderlust that made you want to go trek in the Himalayas and you had this family that had this background in the military, you were thinking that this would be something that would be adventurous or intriguing to you?

Speaker 0: Yeah, like I've always had a taste for like high adventure, like as a child. Like before, probably even before I was school, so like Saturday morning cartoons. How old are you? 55. Yeah, we're the same age.

So I imagine probably grew up with similar cultural influences. So I remember in the mornings watching TV shows, like cartoons, like Johnny Quest was the big 1, right? Speed Racer, Marine Boy, like all this, Speed Racer and Marine Boy were anime, but they were great. Marine Boy was basically Speed Racer, but underwater. Super cool, fantastical stuff.

Great to feed the imagination. The writing for Johnny Quest was so good. And the show in retrospect was kind of progressive. It was like Johnny had 2 dads, and they had this multiracial composite family. But the writing was so solid, like super creative.

I think it was only 26 episodes, but each episode is distinct and well-written and just cool, you know? So I would watch this as a kid and be like, I'm not sure what that is, but I want to do that. You know? So that was kind of the initial impetus for like, And then growing up in the woods in Western Washington, I was expected, I was kicked outside after breakfast and not expected to be seen again until dinner time. And what I did between then was on me.

And so I'd go out and do stupid stuff, like climb high tension power lines to the top, like 5, 6 years old. Like so stupid, right? But it was like, oh, this is cool. And my mother, she definitely facilitated this stuff. Much to her credit, we'd go camping in the Olympic rainforest on the peninsula and there's like a couple rivers there but 1 of the main ones is the Ho River.

And I had this, as a child, I had this $20 Kmart inflatable raft with the oars. And my mom would drive me up river, like 10 miles or 15 miles or whatever in our Volkswagen bus and drop me off, me and my $20 Kmart boat in a life vest and she'd be like, all right, see you at the campground. And so I would be doing this like, you know, white water rafting by myself in my cheesy little boat for several several miles and you know didn't drown obviously but it kind of instilled again this reinforced this sense of adventure you know and I'm sure my mom would go to jail for that today

Speaker 1: probably not jail but yeah definitely be discouraged mm-hmm

Speaker 0: so the US background to jail for that today, you know? Probably not jail, but definitely would be discouraged. So that's background for the high adventure thing, the military thing. So 1993, I'm like, okay, I need to do something. I need that punctuated equilibrium, right?

I need a dramatic event in order to promulgate the next period of growth or evolution or whatever.

Speaker 1: So you really actively thought that way? Yeah. You were trying to achieve growth.

Speaker 0: Yeah, I didn't want to stagnate. I didn't want to fall behind. I guess as soon as I figured out what life authorship was or the concept even though I made may have not have known the term yeah I kind of endeavored to actively author my own life, pursuing the ends of making a life that kept me engaged, kept me interested, and was meaningful to me. So the military seemed like more and more like a viable option.

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Jason Everman Went from Being in Nirvana and Soundgarden to Being an Army Ranger